This invention relates to a connector having a pair of opposed mail and female housings and a lever rotatably operable to fit/separate these housings and, more particularly, to a connector with a lever designed so that a completely fitted state can easily be confirmed with eye.
A connector of this kind, having a lever, is known which has a structure, such as that as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, including a receptacle a having a projection a.sub.1 and provided as a female housing, a plug b provided as a male housing, and an arm or lever c having a guide groove c.sub.1 and rotatably provided on the plug b. The plug b is fitted to or detached from the receptacle a by rotating the arm c while engaging the projection a.sub.1 and the guide groove c.sub.1. (See Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 52-133933.)
To confirm whether or not the arm c is completely locked, the operator may confirm with eye that an operation point c.sub.2 of the arm is located at the rear of a stop spring d.
In this conventional connector having a lever, the stop spring d also serves to lock the lever c, and it is therefore necessary for the stop spring d to have a sufficiently high rigidity such as to securely fix the lever c when the connector is used as well as to have a resiliency such that the lever c can easily be locked. It is therefore preferable to form the stop spring d of a resilient metallic material.
However, if the housing, which is preferably formed of a synthetic resin, is combined with the stop spring formed of a different material, the manufacture cost is increased. If the lock portion and the eye-confirmation portion are formed integrally with the housing, the problem of design restrictions is encountered because the lock portion must be formed at a position such as to be able to be seen. Further, the resultant force of the housing fitting force and the lock insertion force acts as a lever locking force, that is, a large force is required to completely seal the connector. There is therefore a risk of incompletion of connector sealing.